Hi Folks,

How is seating handled at Buenos Aires tango shows in general and specifically at Sr. Tango and El Viejo Almacén?

Is there reserved seating? How to get good seats without scalping? Do dinner guests get preferred seating? Any other tips how to enjoy a tango show?

Also, the dinner at Sr. Tango and El Viejo Almacén; can you get a better dinner by going to a nearby good restaurant and then walking to the show separately?

i personally dont like Sr. Tango, too artificial, that is not argentinian at all. i have never been at el viejo almacen and i would like to go as many people say it was nice. The only one i can talk about as i ve been there several times is www.piazzollatango.com
it has a good level, good dinner, excellent place and piazzolla music the best for me. Nobody misses dinner there and people who know about wine say it is good. For me, it is the best place by far and typically argentinian.

We loved the Tango show at Cafe Tortoni at 828 Avenida de Mayo. Fab food, great wine and tango for less than 100 pesos for two of us. Book before 12 midday on Fridays. Seating for around 30-40 people so everyone gets a great view!

Good question on how the seating is handled. I went to Sr Tango two years ago. A travel agent arranged it for me. Van/bus picked me up at the hotel. There were several other people (12 or 14, maybe) on the bus and we went to the show as a group and sat in a couple of booths on the second floor. The meal was mediocre (it is Sr Tango, not Sr Steak, after all).

Basically, it looked like everybody at Sr Tango was part of a tour bus group of some and everybody was there for dinner and a show (so, no preferred seating that I could see).

After the meal, we moved to some tables that overlooked the stage. This was not a great vantage point. The seating is u-shaped around the stage. More like a flat u: |_| and we were in the on the right side near the lower right corner. Others had worse vantage points, but everyone upstairs had slide their seats, lean forward and look over/prop-up-on a railing to see the show. I may go there next week, but will see if I can get a seat on the lower level and in the front of the stage. I won't go if my only choice is upstairs on the side.

I haven't been to the other places, but I think it is safe to say that the Sr Tango show has an emphasis on "show" more than the others.

i have heard remarks like this before about the 2 most popular tango shows. yet there are many people who want to go there. The one i personally like and i am not a tango fan but a piazzolla fan cause i always followed him. is around 40 u$s, the place is gorgeous, the show is outstanding and the steak is excellent as all argentinian meat.

Sorry, but no, not all Argentinian meat is excellent. The beef that I had at Sr Tango was gristly and low quality and it was poorly cooked, burned on the outside and raw in the middle. The problem is that there were a couple of hundred people there all at once for dinner. They had only a handful of menu choices and it was pretty much an assembly line to get the food out, eaten, and cleaned up before show time.

The other people at my table seemed to enjoy their meals.

I did have an inexpensive, excellent steak that was nicely done at a simple restaraunt in Congreso.

When you go to these tango shows, is there an opportunity for the patrons to dance as well?

Not at Sr Tango.

There are many wonderful locations that offer tango dance lessons and milongas, where patrons dance. The tango dinner shows are professional entertainers.....

<I went to Piazzolla tango last night....excellent music, good singing, and wonderful dancing....but unless you understand Tango...you will find Sr. Tango more entertaining.....

I went to the Carlos Gardell tango show last night. The show was very entertaining. The stage was like a theater stage (unlike (my memory of) the Sr Tango stage which came out into the audience and tables were along the sides of the stage). The meal, in general, was just ok, but the bife de chorizo was very good.

The music at C.G. was provided by a sextet - two accordions (actually they are called bandoleon, I think), two violins, cello, and piano. There were about 28 dancers who appeared throughout the show. It was like Senor Tango, just nicer.